Although the story treats the pulping of thousands of unsold copies of Alan's book as a humiliating failure, this is actually a common occurrence in the publishing industry. Even with famous best-selling authors, publishers can overestimate the demand, print too many copies, retailers fail to sell them all and they are returned and pulped. A 2002 Guardian article (the same year this episode was made) stated that almost 10% of newly published books end up being shredded.